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Mutton Broth

A clear broth made by simmering mutton, rice, turnip, celery, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Mutton Broth

Why it works: Turnip and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,418 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mutton Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Place the chopped mutton in a kettle with the water.

  2. Boil, skim, and then reduce heat to simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Add the rice, turnip, and celery.

  4. Simmer for an additional 2 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the broth, removing fat, and add salt to taste before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Rice + turniptop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + turniptop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,558 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton
Releases flavor and gelatin into the water, giving the broth body and a rich meaty taste.
Washed rice
Thickens the broth slightly as its starch softens during the long simmer.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and vegetable flavor that rounds out the savory broth.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, slightly bitter vegetable notes to the broth.

The step that matters

Skim after the boil. Fat and foam that rise during the initial boil can make the broth greasy and cloudy if left in. Skimming early keeps the final broth clearer and cleaner tasting.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, rice, turnip):

  1. Turmericfits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice, turnip. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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